I am looking for suggestions for a 10 day (excluding travel days ) trip to Andalusia in Sept, 2024 for 2 people. We were hoping to see Seville, Jerez, Cadiz, Granada & interesting sites in between. Flying out of Newark, it looks like we need to fly into Madrid & take the train to Seville. Open to other ideas. We enjoy walking, museums, historical sites & looking forward to some Sherry. We are open to whatever the area has to offer. I'd love suggestions for an itinerary & places to stay - not a fan of large impersonal hotels. We were thinking of staying in 1 location & taking day trips. Leaving Seville we'll probably rent a car to travel between Seville & Granada & then a train back to Madrid. We will stay a couple of days in Madrid. What's the best use of out time there? Thanks for any suggestions. Liz

At the end of May United inaugurated nonstop service from Newark to Málaga. EWR to AGP, but the service is seasonal and the last flight departs on September 28. So, high season only. So for September 2024, it would be possible from EWR to do an open jaw, into Málaga and out of Madrid or round trip EWR-AGP if you only plan to visit Andalucía.

If you can fly into Malaga as Maribel suggests, I recommend spending 2 nights in Malaga. It's a wonderful small city with a pedestrianized center. For sightseeing, there are tons of art museums, the Alcazaba, Castillo, Malaga Cathedral, Atarazanas Market, etc. There is a lovely seaside promenade, lined with palm trees, where you can have drinks overlooking the harbor and enjoy the sunset. There is also a ferris wheel, if that interests you! Since the rest of your trip will be inland, I think it's nice to have some coastal ambiance.

I also recommend visiting Cordoba to see the magnificent Mezquita. You can either spend a night or two in Cordoba, or visit it as a day trip from Seville. It's an easy train ride; about 1 3/4 hours, I think.

A possible itinerary could be:
Malaga - 2 nights
Granada - 2 nights
Seville - 4 nights including a day trip to Cordoba and possibly a daytrip to Jerez
Madrid - 2 nights

I want to add that as much as we liked Malaga, I would not give up Cordoba for Malaga. I haven't been to Jerez so I can't really comment on Jerez. Except that I THINK you can visit Jerez as a daytrip from Seville.

You can take trains and/or the ALSA bus everywhere.

In Madrid, we stayed at the Mercure Madrid Centro, which is very convenient to the Prado, Reina Sofia and Thyssen Art Museums.
Unfortunately, our lovely hotel in Granada has closed.
In Seville we liked the Apartamentos Suites Santa Cruz.
In Cordoba we liked the Las Casas de la Juderia.
If you decide to stay in Malaga for a night or two, we liked the Soho Malaga.

Here is the link to my trip report if you are interested.
OUR 2-WEEK SPANISH JOURNEY: MADRID, TOLEDO, AND ANDALUCIA!

The Soho Málaga is great and very well located, as are the Roomate Larios, the Roomate Valeria in Soho, the AC Málaga Palacio with superior rooms with water views and the Molino Larios with rooftop terrace with cathedral views. For luxury, there´s the new Palacio Solecio near the Picasso Museum.

You can visit Jerez de la Frontera from Sevilla on the MD train on a day trip, but I enjoy spending an overnight or more in Jerez, the aristocratic city of flamenco, horses and sherry. I go in March for the International Flamenco Festival, but September is a great time to be in Jerez for the Festival de la Vendimia, the wine harvest festival. I'm very fond of Jerez.

For Sevilla, given the number of tourist beds in Santa Cruz that now actually outnumber Seville residents, I would stay instead in the El Arenal quarter for a quieter, less crowded experience. I was in Seville for 10 days in March and the Calle Mateos Gago in Santa Cruz was simply heaving with visitors. The Santa Cruz quarter has changed considerably so I would suggest a boutique hotel such as Casas de El Arenal (a sister hotel to Casas de la Judería) or the Vincci La Rábida on the same street in the El Arenal quarter or the new Vinnci Molviedro also in El Arenal or the H10 Casas de la Plata near Las Setas and outside of the tourist tsunami zone. The latter is a favorite of ours. In a much quieter zone of Santa Cruz, kind of hidden next to the Alcázar gardens, you have the Legato Alcázar, which is also boutique.

In Granada there are many nice hotel options---Eurostars Aurea Catedral, Gar Aznat (boutique), Casa 1800, Palacio de Marina Pineda, Shine Albaicín, Casa Morisca, etc.

The Jerez de la Frontera sherry producers that I recommend-
Tradición with a wonderful art collection to boot
González Byass for first timers
Lustau, a fantastic tour
Rey Fernando de Castilla
Faustino González (private tour with the owner)

Producers of Manzanilla in Sanlúcar de Barramenda (by car or public bus from Jerez)
Barbadillo (in the upper town)
Hidalgo (in the lower town)

I would prioritize Cordoba and of course its majestic Mezquita. I believe photos can do justice to a lot of places, but not the Mezquita. It begs to surround you.

Can't you fly into Seville itself? A connecting flight is going to be less hassle than dealing with the train from Madrid. The train will mean getting to the train station. Plus you'll be on your own if the flight is delayed.

If you can't fly into Málaga on the new United non-stop, there is an Iberia flight a 11:40 from MAD to Seville (the earlier one at 7:20 you won't make, the afternoon one leaves at 4 pm).
Because most Spaniards take the AVE, Iberia has only four MAD-SVQ flights per day in September.

Maribel,
Thank you. We'll be going early in Sept & United is the airline where all my point are. Perfect!
Liz

Thanks that's very helpful.

Yeah! I'm glad then that United is your carrier of choice.

To me, Jerez is a magical and underrated small city that should be on the itinerary for visitors to Andalucia. I spent three days (only) last spring, and hope to return. And Sevilla, to me, on among the most enchanting cities in Europe, if not the world....

If possible, if departing from the NYC area, I would do my best to fly into the airport in Andalucia that suits you best...since your time is limited, this would be optimal,, for me.....the train is superb, but your time is short....make the most of your time on the ground! You will be in for a treat, in every sense of the word...and you are fortunate to have Maribel offering opinions, always right on spot...

I agree with the preceding comment on Jerez de la Frontera. My most recent trip to Spain (Dec. 2019) was devoted to Cordoba and Jerez, and while I loved Cordoba, Jerez was the real highlight of the trip for me. There is a tendency to equate Jerez with aristorcratic horse shows, and I’m sure that those shows are great. I however, have zilch interest in horses, yet there was enough else to entice me about Jerez: flamenco music, sherry and the humble bars (tabancos) where it’s best enjoyed; a fantastic historic center; and less easy to define but just as important to me, an overall authentic feel to this city, that seemed not yet to have yielded to the demands, pressures, and absurdities of mass tourism. I could almost have felt as if I had been the first tourist to discover the city (something I could never have felt in Cordoba), though I suppose I really wasn’t! (Note though that the one or two nights you will have to devote to Jerez may not be sufficient to appreciate this city as I did.)

Incidentally, when in a tabanco, don’t order just “sherry”: you must specify your favored type (oloroso, fino, amontillado, etc.).

Agree in full with well written post above. Jerez is an understated jewel. How I imagine other nearby cities were decades ago.

Jerez is aristocratic, given it's the home of the many sherry barons (the Domecqs, the Osbornes, the González Byass, etc), whose mansions the average visitor doesn't see out by the fairgrounds, plus home to the "horsey set", given the nature of their very important Feria del Caballo in May and being the home of the Royal School of Equestrian Art.
The Jerez "Cartujano" horses are cousins to Vienna's "lipizzanos". In addition to the horse ballet at the Real Escuela in town, one can also attend the Saturday morning, 11 am. tour of the stables and the horse display at their home, the Yeguada de Real Tesoro, outside of the city. The shows are very different.

But yet Jerez it's relatively undiscovered by foreign tourists and very laid back, far less frequented than Sevilla, Málaga, Cordoba, Granada.
As ekscrunchy says, an "understated jewel" that does take time to discover. The cathedral has a treasury holding many artistic masterpieces, including a Zurbarán and Jerez also has an Alcázar with a cámara oscura and it's also a small city for just aimless wandering in addition to visiting its many sherry houses.

It´s also all about flamenco, being the cradle of the genre, that one can see in the tablaos of the Santiago and San Miguel district. The International Flamenco Festival, held in late February-early March attracts the finest of Spain's flamenco performers and also students from around the world to take classes from them. I attended this past March and saw 5 really wonderful performances in my 5 nights there, in the Teatro Villamarta and several other venues.

What's a tabanco? It's unique to Jerez, a tradition that dates back to the 17th century, when sherry production started booming and refers to an old sherry store where locals can enjoy fortified wine directly from the barrel (olorosos, finos, amontillados, palo cortado, cream, Pedro Ximénez), while in many cases, listening to authentic flamenco rhythms. The ancient sherry bar combines the commercial aspect of a wine shop with the social environment of a tavern. Jerez has many scattered about the city. The Tabanco El Pasaje, from 1925, is one of the more famous and offers live flamenco performances daily, throughout the year. In the fall these shows happen at 2, 9 and 10 pm.

There are major events in Jerez all during the year, the Flamenco Festival in late Feb. to early March, a very solemn Holy Week, especially Maundy Thursday to Good Friday, the May Feria del Caballo (José Andrés and daughters attended and you can see that episode soon on CNN), the Tío Pepe Music Festival in August attracting big names and famous chefs, the Harvest Festival (Festival de la Vendimia) in September, car racing in October, the zombombas in December, preceding Christmas.

and ekscrunchy and I can attest to the great dining the city now offers.

The only difficulty with including Jerez in an Andalusian itinerary is that while there´s good train service via the MD from Sevilla Santa Justa or San Bernardo for a day trip or an overnight, and there´s service to Madrid via the Alvia, plus very inexpensive train service to Cádiz, it isn't well serviced at all to points in Eastern Andalucía, to Málaga and Granada. It´s a 2 hr. 40 min to 3 hr. drive from Málaga and a 3 hr. 15 min. drive from Granada.

Just to add, Jerez is a short, under an hour bus ride to Sanlúcar de Barrameda, the manzanilla town, and also a short bus ride to the white town of Arcos de la Frontera.

We are thinking of adding Morocco to the trip, taking the ferry to Tangiers & traveling to Chefchauen & Fes. Possibly other towns on the way. Any suggestions on am itinerary & or finding local guides? I was surprised to see that Morocco isn't one of the countries in Fodor's list.

Honestly, candidly, for just 10 days for Andalucía, I just would not add Morocco, even though Chefchaouen and Tangier haven't been affected by the recent earthquake.

This would really, truly short change heavily your time in Andalucía, where many visitors spend a full 2 weeks happily. That is, if you don´t add a significant number of days to your itinerary for Morocco with Tangier--a one nighter for me or a landing point for hiring a grand taxi to the Blue City, Chefchaouen plus onto Fez, which could be another wonderful trip entirely, on its own, adding Rabat, Marrakech, and maybe the beach location of Essaouira.
Our fodorite, progol, wrote a truly wonderful, detailed trip report (my dream trip) about her Moroccan adventures, including all of the above. Just click on her name.

Info about Morocco can be found on the Africa and the Middle East forum.

Hi & thanks. We would add days but really just wanted to get a taste. I'll check on Morocco on the Africa forum.
Liz

Hi Liz, I recommend taking the train from Seville to Granada. It is very comfortable, not expensive and parking the car in Seville or Granada can be an impossible task.

From Seville you can make day trips to interesting destinations: Cordoba, Dońana National Park, Ronda and the White Villages, Cadiz and Jerez, Gibraltar, Granada, Tangier (Morocco), the Caminito del Rey.

All these excursions can be done in one day and return to Seville. There are many agencies that organize these excursions or take public transport. In my opinion, renting a car is not the best idea.

From Sevilla to Granada, if you plan to stop in a white town, such as Ronda or make a stop in Antequera, you should have a car and simply return it at the rail station before entering center city Granada, where there are traffic restrictions.

If you plan to move directly from Sevilla to Granada sans stopovers, the train (or Alsa bus), would be more appropriate. The bus schedule might be more convenient than the train, depending on the departure times. I've taken both. www.renfe.com for the train, www.alsa.es for the bus. Buses are also clean, comfortable, have a/c and are inexpensive.

From Seville a day trip to Jerez or to Cádiz is easy via the inexpensive MD (Media Distancia) trains. A day trip to Córdoba is also a 45-minute ride on the AVANT, although many Fodorites prefer to spend the night or 2 nights, or even 3.
Again, www.renfe.com

While there are agencies that organize excursions (if private, they are expensive) from Sevilla to Ronda and the White Villages, to Gibraltar to Granada and even Tangier, Morocco (not the best introduction at all to this fascinating country), this makes for a very long day.
Pancho Tours' excursion to Ronda and the White Towns from Seville takes 11 hours, for example, with pick up at 9 am and return at 8 pm. Their tour to Granada takes 12 hours, with 6 hours of sitting in the van. Naturanda offers a tour to Tangier, Morocco (weather dependent on the Tarifa fast ferry-it sometimes can't run) takes a whopping 15 hours, just so you'll know.